15, Church Street

No. 15 Church Street is an early 19th-century house, subsequently used as an office and shop alongside an adjoining warehouse. The building has undergone some 20th-century alterations to accommodate its commercial use. It is constructed with timber framing, plastered walls, and a red brick facade on the street frontage. The roof is slate-covered, with a red brick stack. The building has an L-shaped plan and is linked to the warehouse.

The north front elevation features a pedimented single bay with a smaller entry bay on the east side. The principal bay contains a 20th-century double-fronted shop, with windows of 2x3 panes, and a recessed doorway with a fully glazed door featuring a deep head-board. The first floor has a recessed sash window with 3x4 panes, the recess having splayed sides and a large keystone connecting to a deep pedimented cornice, with a recessed Greek key design on the upper wall and window apron. The house’s entry bay has a parapet with coping, and Greek key decoration to the first-floor wall. The ground-floor doorway has reeded jambs and frieze, corner paterae, and a central decorative panel resembling a memorial tablet with a Greek key border. The door hood is missing. The early 19th-century front door features reeded panels, three lower moulded sunk panels, and an upper glazed panel.

The east side elevation is timber-framed and plastered, consisting of two units with the rear section set back. The ground floor is blank, but the rear unit shows signs of two blocked doorways and a rear extension. The first floor has a 20th-century casement window (2x2 panes), an early 19th-century sash window (3x4 panes) with a moulded architrave and some old glass, and a 20th-century single-light casement window. A stack is visible at the roof ridge of the rear unit.

The west side elevation is largely obscured by a 20th-century adjoining building. To the north, the stucco returns from the street frontage, revealing underlying brick infill where a timber post was removed. To the south, a rear block shows early 19th-century red brick in a crude herringbone pattern, replacing an older flint wall, and has a heavy 20th-century cement retaining plinth. There are three 20th-century metal casement windows: one 4-light, one 3-light, and one single-light.

The south rear elevation is similar to the west side, with an upper gable rebuilt in the 20th century. The herringbone brickwork continues around the gable. There is a single 3-light window similar to those on the west side.

The interior entrance hallway has a plaster Greek key ceiling frieze. There are three early 19th-century doorways on the first floor, each with reeded architraves and paterae. A front first-floor window is similar to the exterior window. The cellar was bricked in 1990 but an early 19th-century segment-headed fireplace remains.